Ex-RBS boss Fred Goodwin to defend financial crisis role in court battle

&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"wpcnt">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"wpa">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<span class&equals;"wpa-about">Advertisements<&sol;span>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"u top&lowbar;amp">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<amp-ad width&equals;"300" height&equals;"265"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; type&equals;"pubmine"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; data-siteid&equals;"111265417"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; data-section&equals;"2">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;amp-ad>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div><p>Royal Bank of Scotland is bracing for a costly court battle with shareholders that is to see former boss Fred Goodwin defend his role in the lender&&num;8217&semi;s near collapse during the financial crisis&period; Mr Goodwin and a raft of former executives are in line for a public grilling as part of a £700 million lawsuit brought against the lender by 9&comma;000 retail investors and 18 institutions in The RBS Shareholder Action Group&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>While settling the lion&&num;8217&semi;s share of the claims out of court&comma; RBS is now heading for a 14-week trial which begins on Monday&period; The disgraced former chief executive &&num;8211&semi; who was stripped of his knighthood following the bank&&num;8217&semi;s near collapse &&num;8211&semi; will answer questions over the events leading up to the UK Government&&num;8217&semi;s £45&period;5 billion bailout nine years ago&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The legal action centres on a rights issue overseen by Mr Goodwin in April 2008 when RBS asked existing shareholders to pump £12 billion into the bank after leading a consortium that spent £49 billion on Dutch bank ABN Amro&period; Shareholders claim they were left nursing hefty losses following the cash call after RBS shares plunged 90&percnt; and the Government was forced to step in when the deal turned toxic&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Despite the bank making significant headway in resolving the dispute&comma; it has been unable to strike a deal with the last tranche of shareholders&comma; with any chance of a last-ditch settlement proving a distant hope&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;The bank has already settled with investors representing 87&percnt; of the claims by value &&num;8211&semi; although it has not admitted liability &&num;8211&semi; leaving 13&percnt; unresolved&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>While the court case will begin on Monday&comma; former RBS chairman Sir Tom McKillop will not appear until June 7&comma; with ex-finance chief Guy Whittaker giving evidence on June 13 and former head of RBS investment bank Johnny Cameron on June 30&period; Mr Goodwin will be cross examined on June 8&comma; the day of the General Election&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The bank is legally obliged to provide lawyers for the former directors&comma; but the lender&&num;8217&semi;s legal costs have drawn sharp criticism&comma; as the bill escalates towards £125 million &&num;8211&semi; including £6&period;5 million defending Mr Goodwin and the ex-RBS bosses&period; Three members of the influential Treasury Select Committee warned in April that RBS could face a parliamentary inquiry into the spiralling legal costs&comma; which will make it one of the most costly civil defences in British history&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Labour MP Rachel Reeves said last month&colon; &&num;8220&semi;If RBS loses this case&comma; the bank will have a lot of explaining to do to staff&comma; shareholders and the public on why it spent a fortune on this case&period;&&num;8221&semi; The court case comes after Chancellor Philip Hammond made the stark admission in April that the Government is prepared to sell its near 73&percnt; stake at a loss to the public purse&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The group is also hoping for a reprieve from the European Commission&comma; which is mulling over a plan to spare RBS being forced to sell off 300 Williams and Glyn branches in return for state aid&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;There are fears&comma; though&comma; that the alternative £750 million plan &&num;8211&semi; meant to boost banking sector competition &&num;8211&semi; may end up costing RBS more than the branch sale&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>RBS is also yet to agree a potentially mammoth settlement with US authorities over mortgage-backed security mis-selling&period; However&comma; the bank has enjoyed a brighter start to the year after reporting last month that it had booked its first quarterly profit since 2015 at £259 million&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div style&equals;"padding-bottom&colon;15px&semi;" class&equals;"wordads-tag" data-slot-type&equals;"belowpost">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div id&equals;"atatags-dynamic-belowpost-68ed11ea7a1fb">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<script type&equals;"text&sol;javascript">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;window&period;getAdSnippetCallback &equals; function &lpar;&rpar; &lbrace;&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;if &lpar; false &equals;&equals;&equals; &lpar; window&period;isWatlV1 &quest;&quest; false &rpar; &rpar; &lbrace;&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&sol;&sol; Use Aditude scripts&period;&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;window&period;tudeMappings &equals; window&period;tudeMappings &vert;&vert; &lbrack;&rsqb;&semi;&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;window&period;tudeMappings&period;push&lpar; 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